• Tue. Dec 3rd, 2024

The Bear – More than Just a Cooking Show

Image by Sevi on TPDb

Are you looking for a TV series to binge watch? Look no further than “The Bear.” A 3 season Tv-series with a recipe for togetherness that begins with chaos, drama, and losses.

The Bear is a standout comedy Tv series produced in 2022 by Christopher Storer, starring main character  Jeremy Allen White playing the role of Carmen Berzatto and supporting cast which includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach playing the role of Richie Jerimovich, Ayo Edibiri playing the role of Sydney Adamu ,Abby Eliott playing the role of Natalie, Lionel Boyce playing the role of Marcus, Matty Matheson playing the role of Neil Fak and Liza Colón-Zayas playing the role of Tina Marrero.

This year the series won the golden globe for best television series, musical or comedy and was nominated for 13 awards at the 2023 Emmys as a comedy, winning 10 of them. Some of the actors have also received prime time awards for outstanding actors in comedy and television series.

The plot explores a young talented chef who returns to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop known as “The Original Beef of Chicagoland” after his brother passes away. Carmen strives to change the family’s sandwich shop to a classy well-known restaurant which will come to be known as “The Bear.” With his skills, he sets a high standard that seems hard for the rest of the chefs in the kitchen to follow, resulting in more arguments and misunderstandings.

Filmed in Chicago, it serves a display of raw dialogue as it unfolds with Carmen having what seems to be a scary heart pounding dream of a bear charging at him from a cage. He then wakes up to nothing less than a day of never-ending loud argument with Richie, his late brother’s best friend. 

The presentation of this series showed clear visuals. It was informative and engaging as the speakers used simple language to explain complex concepts. The lightning was neither too harsh nor too dim.

As the episodes gradually unfold it switches between past events, in the form of memories for a better understanding of the present, revealing character development in a beautiful way and each of these developments and growth meet at a center point for their success in one common goal, which is to make the restaurant better.

For those with the eye of romance, sit tight as season 2 reserves a place for you, when carmen meets Clair a girl, he has always had a crush on. Carmen begins to light up but loses a sense of focus on his goal for the restaurant.

After Carmen gets locked in a fridge on the reopening night of the restaurant now known as “The Bear,” he becomes violent to the kitchen staff and goes even harder on himself. He continues to be an egomaniac causing him to become a more anxious mess as he continues to remember the pressure and negative comments unleashed on him by his boss.

This Tv-series brings out a certain sense of reality from the character development to the story it is portraying. Most of these events are occurrent in the kitchens of the restaurant we eat in most of the time. It is never a leisurely ride to the top, but these characters bring to us a sense of not giving up and working harder throughout losses till you achieve success. 

A heart catching and mind-blowing scene in The Bear for me was when Marcus the baker said to Carmen “Take us to The Bear.” If you read deeply into this, he was telling carmen to take them to success, to do whatever it takes for them to reach their goal.

As you continue to dive deeper into The Bear, you can see how food is the mid-way of a tension, arguments misunderstanding but also family. The finale may leave you feeling bittersweet, but I trust the bear will be back with a growl louder than this season.

By Jessie Ngowoh